See that guy up there? That’s Justin Verlander, future Hall of Famer. He used to pitch for the Tigers. So did a number of other greats, still playing. This is one of the things I address in my piece today: “If I Owned a Sports Team: One man’s fantasy.”
A little excerpt:
I never know who’s on a team anymore. They come and go, before you can learn their names, or their numbers. Today, I can barely name a Piston — I used to know the whole lineup, or at least the starting five.
This is not good for business, I wouldn’t think. I want good players to feel they can, and should, stay in town. I want fans to know who’s on the team. I want a certain bond to develop.
A reader writes,
I completely agree on keeping a team’s nucleus. I can still remember lineups from the baseball teams of the ’50s, when I was young: Braves, Pirates, Cardinals, Yankees, and of course the Dodgers, my home team. As some comedian said, “We’re just cheering for laundry now.”
That would be Jerry Seinfeld, who said,
Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify, because the players are always changing, the team can move to another city. You’re actually rooting for the clothes, when you get right down to it. You know what I mean? You are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city.
Fans will be so in love with a player, but if he goes to another team, they boo him. This is the same human being in a different shirt. They hate him now. Boo! Different shirt! Boo!
A second reader says,
Jay,
Everything I hate about sports these days is summed up in your article. I especially despise all the noise and the “rule” there cannot be one moment of “downtime” in the stands. We are entertaining ourselves to death at stadiums and arenas.
The one thing I would add if I owned a team is no wokeness.
A third reader says,
Jay,
What if no one owned the team?
It probably goes against everything silver and blue in you [a reference to the Detroit Lions], but you should cross the pond [Lake Michigan] and study the miracle of modern sports that is the Green Bay Packers.
When my son was born, I put him on the season-ticket waiting list. He is only 106,000th in line. After nine years (and added stadium seats), he might be down to 95,000th.
Also, for your information, most NASCAR tracks in the South allow you to bring your own cooler, and some do have family (alcohol-free) sections.
How about this next one? Put a smile on my face, for sure:
When I turned 13 and had my bar mitzvah, I received a number of cards with the standard pleasantries and welcome inserts. One, however, has stuck with me now 14 years later: “A bar mitzvah is defined as the day when a Jewish boy comes to realize he is more likely to own a professional sports team than to play for one.”
Our reader then says,
As an undergraduate at Georgetown, I made a point to take in the collegiate and professional athletics around me to the greatest extent possible. At a basketball game at the University of Maryland, they encouraged the adoption of an app that allowed for dynamic seat-buying during the game. If a superior seat was unsold once the game started, attendees already inside the stadium could pay a modest price to “upgrade.” I thought this was just about the best thing the free market had ever come up with, improving the experience for the players (louder, more intimate fans), the TV audience (a more full stadium, at least as visible on TV, just looks right, no?), and the fans (going from the second level to the “lower bowl” felt like a steal for $15). Your idea around dynamic ticket-pricing before the game is similar, and both have curious incentive systems (doesn’t everything?).
Also, I’m not sure if this had caught your eye, but young billionaire and tech founder Ryan Smith bought his hometown Utah Jazz recently. While I’m not sure what other changes he has instituted, he immediately gave contract extensions to Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. He’s been characterized as a “fan owner” and has been an object of fascination for me.
And now, for me.
Okay, maybe one more note, for the time being?
Good morning,
What stuck out to me in your article was the question, Would the players and everyone else want to be in that environment? I think for the most part they would, if the spirit of your organization recreated the feeling of why they got into the sport in the first place. The sheer joy of playing and honing the craft and working toward something is very rewarding.
Thx a million to all.